Helen “Janet” Hall Jerome was an 87-year resident of Fullerton. She was a breach-baby, born at Fullerton’s Cottage Hospital on February 7, 1937, to Bill & Nella Hall.

Janet was their only daughter, ten years younger than her only sibling, big brother Richard, who was off to the service when Janet was eight years old. She spent her entire childhood in a small house on West Wilshire Ave.

She attended Ford Elementary and Wilshire Jr High before graduating from Fullerton Union High School with the class of 1955. She also attended some classes at Fullerton Junior College before working in the clerical department at Standard Oil in La Habra.

She had many friends, and she and her single girlfriends had many fun times. One highlight was a cruise to Hawaii, on which she discovered that John Wayne and Lee Marvin were passengers on their way to the islands to film the movie Donovan’s Reef. She met John Wayne at the captain’s cocktail party and got a photo with him.

Soon after returning from Hawaii, she became engaged to another lifelong Fullertonian, Don Jerome. Don & Janet were married at the First Baptist Church in Fullerton in 1963. They would remain lifelong members of the church.

In 1965, the Jeromes welcomed a son, David, and two years later, a daughter, Cindy. Janet worked as a wife and mother, changing diapers, packing lunches, and offering coat wisdom. “It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”

Don and Janet worked hard but also loved to have fun. While the kids were still home, they enjoyed getaways to Palm Springs to see the Bob Hope Desert Classic Golf Tournament and Las Vegas to see live entertainment, including Elvis. As the kids got older and more independent, those trips expanded to destinations around the country and the world.

In the late 1970s, Don and Janet took up square dancing, joining the Apollo Eights and later the round dancing group Hacienda Rounders. They danced with the groups several times a week and made many fun-loving friends. They danced, dined, traveled, and partied for the next two decades with their dancing friends.

Janet was an avid daily walker in her Sunny Hills neighborhood when she and Don weren’t traveling. A petite woman just 100 pounds soaking wet, she walked so fast that no partner could keep up with her. Instead, she chose to walk alone while listening to the radio on her headphones. She listened to many shows and commentators, but her favorite was Rush Limbaugh. Walking through the neighborhood, she met many other “Ditto Heads” who became friends. She was so committed to her 2-mile walk daily that inclement weather, falls, and dog bites didn’t deter her.

At night, she used to drive around the neighborhood before calling it a day. She had a set route through downtown’s business and residential neighborhoods and was so consistent that some neighbors would bet on what time she would pass by.

Janet was a member of the local charity group Damas De Caridad and Fullerton’s Republican Women. She enjoyed visiting the Nixon Library to hear nationally known conservative authors speak, and she had a long list of notable people whom she had met there.

During the last year of her life, she had several setbacks, but she always kept a positive attitude. As her appetite waned, one of the few food items that she would eat was huevos rancheros from El Farolito.

Helen “Janet” Hall Jerome died in Fullerton on May 3, 2024. She leaves behind her husband of 61 years, two kids, and five grandchildren. Interment will be in the family plot at Loma Vista Memorial Park.

Rest in peace. We will miss seeing you around Val Mesa Apts. valmesaapts.com